Over 6 years’ jail for conman who cheated 13 victims of more than $1.2m

SINGAPORE - A former insurance agent was jailed for cheating 13 victims of over $1.2 million in total, some of whom were people he ferried in his private-hire vehicle and convinced that he was purportedly a successful forex trader.

Benjamin Chua Sian Yang, 37, who committed several of the offences after the police started investigating him, was sentenced to six years and three months’ jail on July 28.

The Singaporean had pleaded guilty to three counts of cheating involving eight victims and over $1.1 million. Each person was cheated of between $35,000 and $260,000.

Five other charges including those linked to the remaining victims and amount were considered during his sentencing.

In their victim impact statements, six of Chua’s victims “indicated that they suffered great financial losses and were very hurt by the accused’s actions, especially where they had a longstanding relationship”, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Susanna Yim.

“Some reported that due to the stress, their health suffered, and their personal relationships were also affected,” she added.

Chua’s offences took place between February 2019 and August 2023.

DPP Yim said Chua used to work as a relationship manager at a bank, and a personal banker at another financial institution.

To earn extra cash, he also worked as a private-hire driver from around 2017.

The following year, he started working as an insurance agent before his employment was terminated around July 2021 over reasons not disclosed in court documents.

DPP Yim said Chua got to know some of his victims through his work at one of the banks or the insurance firm as they were his clients.

He also got to know some other victims as they were passengers in his private-hire vehicle, and he had engaged them in conversations about finances and investments.

The prosecutor said: “He would talk to his passengers and give them the impression that he was a successful forex trader so that they would be interested to invest with him.”

Court documents stated that he cheated a 47-year-old stylist of the largest amount – $260,000.

Chua and the stylist first met in May 2017 when she engaged his services as a private-hire driver, and he told her that he was a financial adviser at an insurance firm.

Between that year and 2018, the woman spoke to him on financial matters, and later made investments in the firm through him.

On Feb 20, 2019, he lied in text messages to her that he had started his own trading platform in stocks and shares.

He convinced her into “investing” $30,000 for an eight-month term at 1 per cent interest per month in stock. She then transferred the amount to one of his bank accounts.

Chua went on to tell her about other so-called investment opportunities, and she transferred another $230,000 to his other bank account later that year.

Chua “used the money for gambling and collectibles”, instead of investing it in stocks or shares, said DPP Yim.

“He used income he generated through other means to pay $2,400 worth of investment interest and provided one free iPhone and one red packet of $500 which were offered as a means to entice (her) into agreeing to invest with him on a continual basis and to prevent detection of his crime,” the prosecutor added.

Chua cheated multiple other people by using a similar method. One of them was a female clerk, 54, whom he met in December 2020 while he was working as a private-hire driver.

He later duped her into handing him $65,000, and she lodged a police report on April 4, 2021. Court documents did not disclose what spurred her to do so.

The prosecutor said the clerk was the first person linked to the case to alert the authorities.

Chua gave a statement to the police on April 18, 2021, but he was neither arrested nor remanded at the time.

Other victims, including the stylist, later alerted the authorities, and he was finally arrested in August 2023.